January Reflection

My time in the B.Ed. program has been interesting. The theories that I have learned are different from my experience in my placement. Part of this disjunction can be explained by COVID-19. There is no group work, the classes are very long so the students have trouble focusing, and the students sit behind a screen since all work is computer-based in the event of a lockdown (such as what we are experiencing this January). Additionally, the courses I have been co-teaching are not my teachables. However, I have had to come to exemplify the adaptive expert by quickly learning theories, the subject matter, the curriculum, and constantly reflect by myself and with others if I am teaching the material correctly. For example, as I am currently teaching religion, I went and read sections of the Bible which we are covering in the class. From there, I created questions for the students that relate to the Bible and the world around them to adapt parables for further understanding. I also lead class discussions on how to be a good digital Samaritan since they spend the majority of their days online.

I also worked on creating a caring environment filled with trust in the classroom. For one written assignment, two students came out to my associate teacher and I. We had originally planned for students to record themselves reading that assignment in class. However, we wanted to ensure that students who were not out to their peers would not feel forced to come out, we adapted the assignment to practice the audio recording software with different questions. Students could then record their original written assignment at home or come in on their lunch if they did not have a safe home environment.

My experience at my placement also gave me interesting insights into the theory I learned in class. My associate teacher allowed me to explore different classes and see different teaching styles. In my French pedagogy class, we learned that every teacher is a language teacher. As such, a subject teacher should be able to teach language points such as a history teacher should teach passé composé. However, when I asked various teachers about this aspect, they all said “When?” There was simply no time left to teach grammatical points in a religion class. It is up to the French teacher to teach French, not others.

As for my practice itself, I have greatly improved on attention retention. Within my initial three weeks, I have asked my students a lot more questions and created a routine for them to admit if they are unsure of what to do. I ask at the end of each set of instructions: “Est-ce qu’on a des ouis? Est-ce qu’on a des nons? Est-ce qu’on a des AHHHHH?” The students then give me a thumbs up, a thumbs down, or shake their hands if they are unsure of what to do. Since it has become part of their routine, they are a lot more open to asking questions. For daily improvement, my associate teacher gives me oral feedback and I pick at least one aspect to add into my teaching practice the following day to create a routine usage. For example, I began repeating student answers aloud for the class to hear and to validate the student for participating. For the future, I need to work on pacing. I sometimes speak a little quickly if I am worried I will encroach on their in-class work time. Additionally, if I am going over-time due to class participation, I should accept that since student involvement is wonderful to have.